Progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker appear to be feuding over the tens of millions of dollars each will need to fund a solution to the city’s migrant crisis.
The Windy City is struggling to care for the more than 34,000 asylum seekers brought in from the border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over the past 18 months. It has spent $156 million on the crisis and still has 14,200 migrants in its 28 shelters, and is fighting with the state of Illinois over where to build more.
Pritzker, along with Cook County Board Chairman Toni Preckwinkle, pledged to find an additional $250 million to fund their response. However, that is $71 million less than what officials say will be needed in 2024 alone.
However, there was no mention of Johnson — who disapproved of the meeting — or the city’s potential to contribute money, and Johnson denied a rift between himself and Pritzker when pressed about it at a news conference Thursday.
“There are some issues that need to be addressed,” Johnson said of the city’s lack of funding.
Progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker appear to be feuding over tens of millions of dollars that will both be needed to fund a solution to the city’s migrant crisis
While he claimed to still be talking to both Pritzker and Preckwinkle, he did say there were differences between the three levels of government.
“It’s not just about financial resources,” Johnson said. “As I have said before, the City of Chicago is solely responsible for providing temporary emergency shelter at this time.”
Johnson then referenced a $65 million commitment Pritzker made late last year to winterize an encampment, which the state never got around to.
He asked reporters: “Do you remember the state, which already committed to 2,000 beds in November? Do you remember that?’
The mayor also admitted there was no guarantee the city would be able to keep shelters open and claimed Pritzker’s pledged quarter-billion dollars might not be enough.
Many in the city believe Texas Governor Greg Abbott will “ramp up” the buses of migrants sent to the city when he hosts the Democratic convention in August. the Chicago Tribune.
Johnson boldly claimed he is the man to solve this problem.
“Nobody in this town – let’s make it broader. No one in the state of Illinois, in this country, questions Mayor Brandon Johnson’s commitment to this mission. Nobody is.’
Pritzker pledged to find another $250 million to fund their response. However, that is $71 million less than what officials say will be needed in 2024 alone
The mayor also admitted there was no guarantee the city would be able to keep shelters open and claimed Pritzker’s pledged quarter-billion dollars might not be enough.
Many in the city believe Texas Governor Greg Abbott will “ramp up” the buses of migrants sent to the city when he hosts the Democratic convention in August.
Pritzker, along with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, appeared to snub Johnson in their funding announcement
However, a spokesperson for Pritzker seemed to indicate that there are indeed questions.
“The governor agreed to cover more than half of these costs, at $182 million,” Pritzker spokesman Jordan Abudayyeh said.
“The provincial president also did his best to cover another $70 million. You will have to ask the city what their plans are for the remaining $70 million that all parties agree is needed to fund this humanitarian response.”
Shelters in converted warehouses in Chicago are filled to the brim with newcomers living in poor conditions, prompting the city to take over other sites.
Johnson has urged the city to stop opening migrant shelters and called on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to follow through on his promises to build his own shelters.
Mayor Johnson himself says the massive influx of migrants is unsustainable, but he can’t turn them away because Chicago is a “sanctuary city.”
He blamed both the Biden administration and Texas for his city’s struggle to care for its roughly 15,000 asylum seekers. crammed into 28 shelters across the city.
Governor Abbott has bused more than 25,300 migrants to Chicago since August 2022.
A tent for the homeless can be seen across the street from Montrose Beach in Chicago
Migrants, who have no place to stay upon arrival in the city, seek safe shelter at the Chicago Police Department’s District 12 station
Chicago tried to get them to arrive at designated locations during business hours and impounded buses that didn’t follow these rules.
However, bus companies responded by dropping off migrants as far as 60 miles from Chicago, and Abbott began sending them on charter flights.
Conditions in Chicago’s migrant shelters have been under scrutiny since five-year-old boy Jean Carlo Martinez Rivero died on December 17.
Johnson claimed there was “no evidence that the conditions of the shelter caused the death of this young boy.”
Volunteers trying to help the asylum seekers as best they can, submitting lists of concerns to city officials months before Jean’s death.
Photos and videos at the shelter where he died showed 2,300 migrants huddled under a leaky roof in freezing temperatures.
One video showed a young boy with what appeared to be a bandage around his head, lying on a thin folding bed while distracting himself with a tablet.
Another shows another child coughing and crying as their temperature is taken and examined by volunteers.
A third video showed water leaking from the roof and pooling on one of the beds.